S. SEKOU ABODUNRIN
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Heb 4.9-11
We understand from God’s word that there is a rest that is available in this age to the people of God. We realise that one could be of the people of God and yet not enter into this rest. There are many Christians that are ignorant of the rest of God and how the believer enters into it.
In context every Israelite that entered the promised land of Canaan did not enter into God’s rest. The prophecy that God communicated through David hundreds of years after Israel entered Canaan shows that Canaan itself was not that rest that God had in mind.
The ministry of Joshua took them into the Promised Land, but it could not deliver them into the rest of God. This is made available to man only in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The rest that we are to enter into is not that of man, but of God himself. When one enters into the rest of God he ceases from his labour just like God ceased from his own labour.
And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. Mark 2. 27-28
The concept of rest is that of Sabbath. We are told that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Even though many believed that there was absolutely no work on the sabbath, the truth is that the priests of the Old Testament were commanded to do temple work every Sabbath and in doing that work they were celebrating the true Sabbath. Jesus was greater than the temple in which the service was rendered and the priests that served in the temple.
The secret is that the Sabbath is not the celebration of a day or the observance of a day but the acknowledgement of the person of Christ. Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath and he is the fulfilment of all that the Sabbath points to. Man was not made for Sabbath nor is he to worship its observance. The Sabbath is a provision from God to bring rest to man. This, God has fulfilled lavishly in Christ.
We know what the rest that we are to enter into is like because we are told that it is exactly like the rest by which God ceased from his own labours in Genesis.
Why did God rest?
We are told that it is because God had ceased from all his works.
This is another way of saying that God had carried out his creative acts in a complete way. It was so complete that nothing was required to be done in addition to that which he had already done.
We usually link rest with tiredness, but we have to realise that unlike his creation God did not rest because he was tired. The rest God has is not because of tiredness but that he ceased from his labours. His labours refer to his act of creation. He rested because he had created.
How does God create?
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. Gen 1:11 -12
Watch closely the nature or the type of labour that God ceased from.
God creates with words. His words are exact and deliberate. We are given insight into how he created herbs. God did not say "Let there be herbs". God said "Let there be herb yielding seed after his kind". God created herbs to carry seed within itself so that the seed become the next herb. This is simple but profound.
This is significant. God does not keep creating herbs. Through his words God puts seeds in fruits, which are capable of reproducing the trees that become the herbs which carry the seed that keep reproducing in a continuous cycle. This is what God saw as good. He does not keep creating. He creates things complete.
God creates in such a way as to give the creation the power to continue the process that started in genesis 1.
This would mean that God has created herbs only once. You see, God doesn’t scratch his head wondering how the next herb will sprout. He has created the first herb complete. He has created it so complete that his direct intervention is not required for maintenance of his creation.
This is the type of creation that warranted God resting. The first Sabbath was therefore a bold testimony of God’s completeness in that which he had spoken into existence. This is what we are called to enter into. We are to enter into rest. Rest is the consciousness that what God has done is so complete that God doesnt need to do anything again in regards to what he has done.
By the time Adam was created every tree needed for his food already existed. There was a sun to drive evaporation and cooling of water. This was before Adam opened his eyes. Firstly then we see the provision and then we see man’s need for it. The lesson of the first Sabbath therefore is that the solution is much older than the challenge that we face. This is rest as God rests.
So you need something from God? The truth is that God has ceased from his labours. This would mean that it is not so much of God rushing back to the drawing board to conjure up an answer, it is a thing of knowing that the way God operates is to create his things in complete ways. That which is needed is already provided and what is needed is resting in what God has done.
...to be continued.
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
Heb 4.9-11
We understand from God’s word that there is a rest that is available in this age to the people of God. We realise that one could be of the people of God and yet not enter into this rest. There are many Christians that are ignorant of the rest of God and how the believer enters into it.
In context every Israelite that entered the promised land of Canaan did not enter into God’s rest. The prophecy that God communicated through David hundreds of years after Israel entered Canaan shows that Canaan itself was not that rest that God had in mind.
The ministry of Joshua took them into the Promised Land, but it could not deliver them into the rest of God. This is made available to man only in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The rest that we are to enter into is not that of man, but of God himself. When one enters into the rest of God he ceases from his labour just like God ceased from his own labour.
And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. Mark 2. 27-28
The concept of rest is that of Sabbath. We are told that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Even though many believed that there was absolutely no work on the sabbath, the truth is that the priests of the Old Testament were commanded to do temple work every Sabbath and in doing that work they were celebrating the true Sabbath. Jesus was greater than the temple in which the service was rendered and the priests that served in the temple.
The secret is that the Sabbath is not the celebration of a day or the observance of a day but the acknowledgement of the person of Christ. Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath and he is the fulfilment of all that the Sabbath points to. Man was not made for Sabbath nor is he to worship its observance. The Sabbath is a provision from God to bring rest to man. This, God has fulfilled lavishly in Christ.
We know what the rest that we are to enter into is like because we are told that it is exactly like the rest by which God ceased from his own labours in Genesis.
Why did God rest?
We are told that it is because God had ceased from all his works.
This is another way of saying that God had carried out his creative acts in a complete way. It was so complete that nothing was required to be done in addition to that which he had already done.
We usually link rest with tiredness, but we have to realise that unlike his creation God did not rest because he was tired. The rest God has is not because of tiredness but that he ceased from his labours. His labours refer to his act of creation. He rested because he had created.
How does God create?
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. Gen 1:11 -12
Watch closely the nature or the type of labour that God ceased from.
God creates with words. His words are exact and deliberate. We are given insight into how he created herbs. God did not say "Let there be herbs". God said "Let there be herb yielding seed after his kind". God created herbs to carry seed within itself so that the seed become the next herb. This is simple but profound.
This is significant. God does not keep creating herbs. Through his words God puts seeds in fruits, which are capable of reproducing the trees that become the herbs which carry the seed that keep reproducing in a continuous cycle. This is what God saw as good. He does not keep creating. He creates things complete.
God creates in such a way as to give the creation the power to continue the process that started in genesis 1.
This would mean that God has created herbs only once. You see, God doesn’t scratch his head wondering how the next herb will sprout. He has created the first herb complete. He has created it so complete that his direct intervention is not required for maintenance of his creation.
This is the type of creation that warranted God resting. The first Sabbath was therefore a bold testimony of God’s completeness in that which he had spoken into existence. This is what we are called to enter into. We are to enter into rest. Rest is the consciousness that what God has done is so complete that God doesnt need to do anything again in regards to what he has done.
By the time Adam was created every tree needed for his food already existed. There was a sun to drive evaporation and cooling of water. This was before Adam opened his eyes. Firstly then we see the provision and then we see man’s need for it. The lesson of the first Sabbath therefore is that the solution is much older than the challenge that we face. This is rest as God rests.
So you need something from God? The truth is that God has ceased from his labours. This would mean that it is not so much of God rushing back to the drawing board to conjure up an answer, it is a thing of knowing that the way God operates is to create his things in complete ways. That which is needed is already provided and what is needed is resting in what God has done.
...to be continued.
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